Welcome to our next participant.

Her name is Giulia Enders.

She studies at the Goethe University 
in Frankfurt.

Applause to Giulia Enders.

The next 10 minutes are yours!

(Applause)

Okay, I study medicine --

(Cheers)

-- yes, exactly.

And studying medicine 
really comes in handy

when i'm having coffee 
and tea with my aunties.

Because usually they ask you 
what you study.

And whereas my sister needs 
half an hour to explain

what Communication Design is,

I can just say:

medicine.

(Laughter)

And my aunties just look at me 
all happy and satisfied.

(Laughter) (Applause)

It is nice, but it lasts only 30 seconds,

and then the usual question:

What field of medicine 
are you going to specialize in?

And then I must confess:

I have been crazy about the digestive tract 
since my first semester.

It began with the anus,
and now I'm hooked to it!

(Laughter) (Applause)

Suddenly all the enthusiasm trickles away,

usually there ensues an awkward silence.

And the next question comes 
from the far corner of the room:

And what is Communication Design good for?

(Laughter)

It is a pity, because the bowels 
are very charming.

(Laughter)

I'm not sure what my aunties think.

But I suspect they think 
it's about tons of poop

(Laughter)

in all shapes and sizes

or about other people's excrements

(Laughter)

or about obscure cleansing methods

that make us walk like this 
out of doctor's room

or internet videos that are so graphic

that it's quite enough to watch 
other people's reaction to them.

Even science can find reasons

to hate the bowel.

But these are also the very reasons 
why the bowel is so fascinating:

It's 100 times larger 
then the area of the skin.

Just think of hundred Giulias 
standing here on this stage.

Such a thin tube,

with so much immune system inside,

so many hormones produced,

100 trillion gut bacteria,

that's the number of humans 
times the number of humans

times two.

The gut has such a completely 
independent nervous system

that if I cut out a piece and tap on it

it would just mumble a friendly reply.

(Laughter)

It's very complex 
and science is afraid of it,

which is understandable,

but my grandmother says 
that if you really like something,

even if it is overwhelming 
in the beginning,

you should approach it step by step,

and then even if you step in a puddle,

only one foot gets wet.

(Laughter) (Applause)

Let's begin. Here's the esophagus.

It makes powerful movements 
and pushes the food downward.

It falls into the stomach,

which cradles and rocks it a bit,

and feeds it into the small intestine,

where it's sort of magically kneaded,

diminishing in bulk during the process,

then it passes through the colon

and comes out from the anus, 
it all sounds so simple.

But if we focus on a single process --

-- I go for the anus --

then we realize it's a bit more complex 
than expected.

I actually didn't pick 
this subject on my own

rather my roommate asked me:

Giulia, you study medicine:

How does pooping work?

(Laughter)

I have noticed that the anus 
is actually very communicative.

It's an intermediate between 
two worlds of consciousness.

Here's an internal sphincter

and here's an external anal sphincter.

We know the external one very well.

Let's say: A - O - A - O

Audience: A - O - A - O

I meant with your anus.

(Laughter)

Probably many are doing it right now, 
we just don't see it.

So, you see we can do it.

If I say, now do the same --

(Laughter)

If I say, now do the same 
with your internal sphincter --

-- it's more difficult.

(Laughter)

Perhaps somebody managed...

But we can see there's a difference.

It's not under our command.

Let's take a look at the process:

when digested food arrives 
at the internal sphincter,

it opens up and lets a little morsel 
pass through for testing.

(Laughter)

And there are sensor cells 
in between the two sphincters.

These cells analyze 
whether it is solid or gaseous

and notify the brain.

(Laughter)

And then the brain realizes:

ah, I must poop.

(Laughter)

And the brain does what it's good at:

It informs us of our surroundings.

It might say, for example:

well, I have looked,

(Laughter)

we are at the Science Slam right now,

perhaps some gas is all right,

if you let it pass very silently,

but something solid 
would not be so good.

(Laughter)

So they unite their efforts 
and push it back in

(Laughter)

it goes back in the queue,

but it has to come out, eventually.

But when we are at home, 
with nothing better to do,

then -- free to go!

(Laughter) (Applause)

The anus is just the tip of the iceberg.

Auntie 1: What did she say?

Auntie 2: I think she said that the anus 
is just the tip of the iceberg.

The anus is really 
just the tip of the iceberg.

There are 2 cm that we perceive 
and that we can control

and the whole rest --

-- if we want to know what happens there

we need to look at the border area.

So we chose something which is 
both unconscious and conscious.

There are 7 basic emotions 
that show on the face,

they are same for all the people worldwide, 
in all cultures,

here are 3 of them,

fear,

joy,

sadness.

These basic emotions show in our faces 
when we feel them

and in the first split second 
we cannot suppress them.

That reminds us a bit 
of our internal sphincter,

which we cannot control 
consciously either,

and that's not a far fetched comparison.

For when we were little embryological 
heaps of cells in the womb

there wasn't much of a face --

- there was just the front opening 
of the intestinal tube.

And finally it was decided: 
O.K., let's create a face around it,

seems like people like it,

so it was a part of this 
unconscious tube of muscle

which is why we don't have perfect control 
over our facial expression.

We can control our arm any time, 
but not our mimics.

That brings up the question 
what the bowel does with all these emotions,

if it feels fear,

if it can laugh

or be sad.

And there we are touching 
on the deeper layers of the iceberg

on the subconsciousness,

and people start arguing,

because many people believe that the bowels 
have no influence on our emotions,

that they're just a bunch of cells,

and the brain, the DNA and the genes 
are the cause of our feelings.

So, there are two basic viewpoints:

One being that the brain 
decides on an emotion

and tells all other organs what to do,

and the other being that the gut 
is also involved in our emotions,

thoughts, and perhaps even our behavior.

So let's just take something

which has no connection 
with our genes and our DNA:

this huge gut flora.

So we have this whole population of bacteria 
inside of us,

which can weigh up to 2 kg, 
which would be quite normal,

and it's a collection of things, 
decisions, what we have eaten

and the environment that surrounds us,

our very own Pokemon collection 
of intestinal bacteria.

I'd like to introduce you to all of them,

but 60% of them we don't even know at all

since we cannot cultivate them,

they just like it so much in our gut,

that we can't simply 
observe them in a Petri dish.

But since they do have an influence,

scientists began to research them 
intensively in the last years.

Some basic things 
were already known before:

they train our immune system,

our blood type is determined 
by this training and influence,

if we have really bad ones 
then we get bad diarrhea.

But what about the discreet ones

quietly doing their job all day long?

So many different types operating 
in a huge variety of ways.

What is their influence?

And so we have another Babel,

which is my passion,

and about which we start 
asking ourselves many questions:

If I have certain gut bacteria,

will I get fatter than others even though 
I eat the same food as them?

Can I become depressed 
because of some kinds of gut bacteria?

Do some gut bugs protect me from cancer

while others promote it?

And most of these questions 
are getting answered positively.

And this field is so interesting,

it's constantly on my mind.

I have been in neuroscience in Frankfurt 
for the last half a year,

and we are doing experiments 
with endogenous proteins

trying to find out whether they protect 
or harm nerve cells

but I keep thinking, I want to do this 
with proteins from gut bacteria!

They did a study with a truly 
amazing outcome:

The bowels [of mice] were colonized 
with certain bacteria

and then under conditions of stress,

when the gut gets leaky,

they developed memory lapses 
of 10 to 30 days.

With simultaneous doses of probiotics -- 
[no memory loss].

And so I wanted to know: 
O.K., how's that?

And other questions 
which I keep carrying around.

There is almost no research being done 
on this subject in Germany,

and I really want to promote this.

That's why I hope you got something out of this,

for example that the anus is communicative,

if you see a beautiful lady smiling 
it's all right to think of her digestive tract,

(Laughter)

the gut is very close to the people, 
with a lot of private property,

you all have your own gut population, 
take good care of it,

I hope you are more fond of it now,

some politicians might even 
start fearing its competition,

I hope the ladies are happier now,

Thank you all for listening 
and thanks to my sister,

because she made this possible 
with communication design!

(Applause)

Giulia Enders!

(Applause)

-- easy, isn't it?

So let's give today's winner

some more of our time and attention:

a short scientific encore!

So you have the last word!

How nice, how unusual...

I have something to share 
which I always forget,

and actually it's quite cool,

I have told you about those sensor cells,

that distinguish between 
gaseous and solid,

but there is a state of matter 
which is missing -- liquid,

it is always a bit of an awkward topic 
for the audience,

but perhaps some of 
you are familiar with this:

you have diarrhea, you feel you have to fart, 
do you end up with your pants full?

Your gut can't distinguish liquid from gas, 
so it just takes its chances!

That was it!

(Laughter) (Applause)

I have forgotten it in Freiburg already, 
I always forget it...